This Is England

This Is England was made in 2006 by Warp Films. The film cost £1.5 million to produce and was funded by the national lottery and the UK Film Council. The film was directed by Shane Meadow, and was based on a one of his real life experiences. The film is created to change the perception of the stereotypical 'skinheads' and included a strong anti racism message to youngsters, although the film was given an 18 certificate which angered Shane. The main character Shaun is played by Thomas Turgoose, who was found by a talent scout in Grimsby, although he was from a poor background, had behavioural problems and had no experience Shane gave him the lead role in the film and it paid of.

We were given the task of watching the opening scene and creating notes on the following areas:
-Appeal to the audience
-Who is the audience and how we know
-How is the cinematography different to Hot Fuzz
-How is social realism constructed

Opening scene notes:
- There are several camera shots of iconic typically British 80's things, for example: Margaret Thatcher, Top Of The Pops, Space Invaders. This opening sets the time.

-There is a focus of violence in the opening credits - strikes, fights, riots and wars.
- Foreign corner shop owner - stereotypically
- Violence at school, Shaun shows he has a short temper and is not afraid to take on bigger and older kids. He and Harvey are then punished by the teacher by being caned.
-Lots of slang and colloquial language is used
-80's music during a montage of Shaun as he is accepted into the 'skinhead' group. 80's mise en scene, 80's buildings, music, costumes and behaviour.
-lots of hand-held cinematography and very few if any special effects, in contrast to Hot Fuzz which uses lots of editing and special effects.
- The target audience for this film would be working class people, mainly men. However the likeable young main character appeals to women.

This Is England '86:
This Is England '86 television series was produced and aired in 2010, it stared the original cast and more e.g. Lol's parents and the moped gang. The series was filmed in Sheffield and was produced to show how the skinheads developed into mods, it was also designed to show how the recession and unemployment was effecting people at the time. After producing This Is England Shane Meadows still had many ideas left over, which he decided to use to make This is England '86 and had a much larger budget of £20 million compared to the films budget of £1.5 million. The budget was mainly provided by EM Media and Screen Yorkshire.

This extra budget went towards:

• Hiring a much larger cast. e.g. teachers, Woody's parents, Lol's mum and dad, Moped gang
• This Is England '86 uses lots more camera effects and editing techniques through out the series. 
• Lots of different locations were used in This is England '86 e.g. school, wedding place, Shauns house, Lol's house, Woody's house, Maggie and Banjo's house.
• This is England '86 uses lots more props e.g. costumes, buses, mopeds, school equipment and wedding dresses and decorations. 

This Is England '86 begins the first episode with a piece of the original film that was never used, it also uses a different sound track to coincide with the new time era of 1986. One of the main differences is the fact that the television series follows lots of different characters and no longer focuses solely on Shaun's activities.